Epoxy thermosets have wide commercial importance from use in automotive, medical, electronics, aerospace, and construction. They are used as adhesives to reliably bond assemblies, as encapsulants to offer environmental protection and shock mitigation, and in structural composites to improve strength and reduce weight compared to traditional metal. Some applications compound epoxies with fillers to improve mechanical (silica and alumina), thermal (silica), and electrical (silver) properties making the epoxies more durable and reliable in specific applications. Most fillers range in size from several hundred nanometers to several microns. However, over the past decade, compounding epoxies with nanosized fillers has led to a new type of nanocomposite material with properties that can differ from traditional particulate filled composite materials. See Y. Sun et al., J. Polym. Sci. Part B: Polym. Phys. 42, 3849 (2004); S. Jiguet et al., Surf. Coat. Technol. 201, 2289 (2006); H. Zhang et al., Acta Mater. 54, 1833 (2006); S. T. Knauert et al., J. Polvm. Sci. Part B: Polym. Phys. 45, 1882 (2007); and Y. L. Liang and R. A. Pearson, Polymer 50, 4895 (2009).
However, a need remains for a one-part epoxy system that can provide novel epoxy nanocomposite materials.